Sunrise, Sunset, Ships and Surf
Before sunrise the staff landed by Zodiac on the Island Cíes with amazing views of fishing boats pulling in their nets and birds proclaiming morning. The banded red sun quickly rose over the sea and the Spanish mainland in the distance. Not alone on the dock, we found that Spanish national television was already there to do a news report on the visit of National Geographic Explorer to Islas Cíes.
Considered among the most beautiful beaches in the world, Archipelago Islas Cíes arises from clear azure waters full of small sardines and sizeable mullet. Fine white sands are prevalent on this granite island with walking paths through pine and eucalyptus forests up to Faro, the highest lighthouse. As well as dunes, some beaches offer a rim of round multicoloured granite stones smoothly battered by the incessant Atlantic. The westward face of the islands is made up of rugged cliffs and boulders above a pounding, relentless surf. Thus, the Archipelago protects the lengthy (33 km) Ría of Vigo, where the waters of the river and the ocean converge.
All of the Atlantic islands along the coast of Spain are national parks and nature preserves; thus, only 2000 people are allowed on Islas Cíes each day until the end of September, after which the regeneration period for flora and fauna begins.
Our options included guided nature walks, Zodiac tours, kayaking, sunning or swimming in the chilly but enticing waters on an exceptionally warm October day. As required, we left nothing behind except our footprints, yet we took tranquillity, sea breezes, personal observations and myriad photos as lasting memories.
Lucy Hallman Russell, Historian
While we were lunching aboard the National Geographic Explorer, the ship sailed 11 miles to the port city of Bayona (Baiona, in the Galician language). Located near the open ocean, at the head of Galicia’s smallest ría (sea inlet), Bayona gained its place in history when one of Columbus’s ships, the Pinta, returned from its first voyage across the Atlantic, bringing the news that Columbus had indeed found land that no European had yet explored. That event is now commemorated by a rock monument at the place where the original Pinta docked, as well as a replica of the wooden ship itself floating in Bayona’s marina.
We could see the Pinta replica as we travelled on Zodiacs from our own ship to the colourful little port. High atop the headland crenellated stone walls erected during the Middle Ages now encircle a modern parador, a state-run hotel said to be one of the finest in Spain. Wandering through the medieval city center, we stopped to drink big mugs of dark, thick hot chocolate, one of the many foods brought to Europe after Columbus’s voyages to the “New World.” As the sun set slowly over the surrounding hills, we ourselves set out to dine at one of Bayona’s many little restaurants that feature fish and shellfish caught fresh that morning from the nearby sea. And later that evening we sailed off to the last country that our expedition will visit: Portugal.
Sharon Hudgins, Historian
